In the bloodiest two days of the American Civil War, the Confederate Army of the Tennessee smashed the Union Army of the Cumberland along the Chickamauga creek, an Indian name meaning river of death. For the first day Union lines held, but on the second a gap appeared in the Union line into which General J. Longstreet marched. The entire Union right collapsed and the army retreated headlong for Chattanooga, all except General George H. Thomas' corps who fought on until nightfall, delaying the Confederate advance and saving the Union. This book describes this conflict.